PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT Limited Edition video card review: a thousand devils! / Video cards

A PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT Limited Edition model with number 733 came to our testing laboratory, and in total, 1000 of these video cards were sold to computer stores on our planet. It turns out that even if we ignore the total shortage of graphics accelerators, we are dealing with a rather rare series of Radeon RX 6800 XT. So let’s check whether it’s worth hunting for this novelty – or not.

⇡ # Specifications and design features

It is worthwhile, however, to immediately make it clear: today in the review we are talking about the Limited Edition model – you can recognize it by the colorful packaging and rather original equipment. On sale this model can be found under the label AXRX 6800XT 16GBD6-2DHCE / OC. However, the “regular” version of Red Devil (AXRX 6800XT 16GBD6-3DHE / OC) has also been released, which has a less premium status. I believe this model will be widely available when this whole mining saga finally ends. But it is precisely in terms of characteristics that both “Red Devils” are identical.

	Radeon RX 6800 XT (reference)	PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT
GPU
Name	Navi 21 XT	Navi 21 XT
Microarchitecture	RDNA 2	RDNA 2
Technological process, nm	7 nm FinFET	7 nm FinFET
Number of transistors, million	26800	26800
Boost clock frequency, MHz	2250	2340
Number of shader ALUs	4608	4608
Number of texture mapping units	288	288
ROP number	128	128
RAM
Bus width, bit	256	256
Chip type	GDDR6 SDRAM	GDDR6 SDRAM
Clock frequency, MHz (bandwidth per contact, Mbps)	2000 (16000)	2000 (16000)
I / O bus	PCI Express 4.0 x16	PCI Express 4.0 x16
Volume, MB	16192	16192
Image output
Image output interfaces	DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.1	DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.1
Energy consumption
TBP / TDP, W	300	300
Price
Retail price, rub.	59,900 (recommended on release date)	~ 100,000

I strongly recommend reading the article “I could: a review of AMD Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT video cards”, in which all the main features of the RDNA 2 microarchitecture, as well as Navi 21 graphics chips are analyzed in detail. that the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT model received a good factory overclocking of the processor – +90 MHz in Boost mode. The rest of the characteristics of the novelty are shown in the table above.

At the time of this writing, I did not find the Limited Edition model on sale. The usual Red Dragon was available in Moscow only in three stores – and everywhere they asked for 99,000 rubles. Let me remind you that the recommended price of the Radeon RX 6800 XT is 59,900 rubles, and today it looks like a kind of mockery of gamers who want to buy a powerful video card. However, I will no longer touch upon the topic of the shortage of game accelerators in this article. I’m tired of it.

The limited edition PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT comes in a very nice and expensive cardboard box. Inside, in addition to the video card itself, you will find a colorful user manual, designed in the form of a poster, access to the club of owners of elite accelerators of the Red Devil series, an ARGB backlight cable, a sticker and two replaceable buttons for your keyboard, decorated in the demonic style of the series. I consider this package to be at least original, and the theme with interchangeable keys is becoming more and more popular.

Recently, a review of the SAPPHIRE Radeon RX 6800 XT Nitro + video card was released on our website, and we see that you will not find compact versions of the Radeon RX 6800 XT on sale. There is nothing surprising in this, since the power consumption of the video card is serious 300 watts. PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT is no exception: it is 320 mm long and 60 mm thick (three expansion slots in the case).

The cooler cover is made of plastic and metal, so the video card looks very impressive. The adapter is equipped with RGB-backlighting, and the LEDs in it resemble flames flaring up more and more at the “tail” of the video card. The backlight of the Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT can be configured both in the proprietary PowerColor software and in the applications of the motherboard manufacturers – for this, the video card must be connected using the supplied 3-pin cable.

The Red Devil logo on the back of the board is also highlighted.

The 3-pin ARGB header itself is located at the top of the PCB, closer to the I / O panel. In my opinion, in this case, it will not be very convenient to stretch the wire, and it will constantly, as they say, irritate the eyes.

The BIOS switch is located next to it. Default (OC) mode activates the factory overclocked GPU. The name of the preset Silent speaks for itself.

The back of the video card PCB is protected by a metal backplate. In this case, it plays the role of a “bridge structure”, increasing the rigidity of the device. This plate is not part of the cooling system, since it does not come into contact with the elements of the printed circuit board in any way.

The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT cooler is equipped with two 100mm and one 90mm fans. Each Carlson uses two ball bearings, which, according to the manufacturer, quadruples the life of the cooling system. The fans have fairly large and wide blades – PowerColor believes this design increases airflow and pressure by 60%.

On the I / O panel, you’ll find one HDMI output, two DisplayPorts, and one USB Type-C compatible with mini-DisplayPort. For added convenience, the video outputs are highlighted.

The PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT is pretty easy to disassemble. At the heart of the cooler is a massive radiator with seven copper heat pipes and two large sections of aluminum plates. A large nickel-plated copper plate contacts the GPU and memory chips. Two more plates soldered to the radiator serve to cool the power converter elements.

The power subsystem of the “Red Devil” has 19 phases, 16 of which, under the control of the Infineon XDPE132G5D PWM controller, are responsible for the GPU. Each channel includes International Rectifier TDA21472 power stages. The three phases for GDDR6 memory are controlled by the International Rectifier IR35217 controller.

Sixteen gigabytes of memory are recruited with eight Samsung K4ZAF325BM-HC16 chips. They run at 16 Gbps bandwidth and are not factory overclocked.

Well, the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT’s stuffing definitely inspires confidence.

⇡ # Testing methodology and stand

Compare the Radeon RX 6800 XT with many other graphics adapters – in all popular resolutions – in this article. In this review, I compared the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT to the SAPPHIRE Radeon RX 6800 XT Nitro + and Palit GeForce RTX 3080 GamingPro OC. The complete test bench is shown in the table below.

Testbed configuration
CPU	Intel Core i9-10900K, 10 cores and 20 threads, 3.7 (5.3) GHz
Motherboard	ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO (WI-FI)
RAM	DDR4-3600 (16-16-16-28), 4 × 8 GB
Video cards	Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT Nitro + PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT Palit GeForce RTX 3080 GamingPro OC
Storage device	Samsung 970 EVO 1 TB
Power Supply	Corsair AX1000 1000W
CPU cooling system	NZXT KRAKEN X62
Housing	Open stand
Monitor	NEC EA244UHD
Operating system	Windows 10 Pro x64
Software for video cards
AMD	21.1.1
NVIDIA	461.09
Additional software
Removing drivers	Display Driver Uninstaller 18.0.2.3
FPS measurement	Fraps 3.5.99
	FRAFS Bench Viewer
Overclocking and monitoring	GPU-Z 2.30.0
	MSI Afterburner 4.6.3
Optional equipment
Thermal imager	Fluke Ti400
Sound level meter	Mastech MS6708
Wattmeter	watts up? PRO

The graphics cards were loaded using the game The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (maximum graphics quality settings, 4K resolution) for two hours. Tester’s performance was measured by 3DMark Time Spy, 3DMark Fire Strike and Unigine Superposition benchmarks.

The room temperature at the time of testing was 22 degrees Celsius.

The noise level was measured using a Mastech MS6708 device installed opposite the video card at a distance of 15 cm.

The video cards were tested in 16 games in three popular resolutions: Full HD, WQHD and Ultra HD. A complete list of applications and graphics settings is provided below:

• World of Tanks EnCore RT. DirectX 11. Benchmark. Ultra mode, RT – off.
• Counter Strike: Global Offensive. DirectX 9. FPS Benchmark card. Multi-core processing – incl. Maximum quality.
• The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. DirectX 11. Novigrad and surroundings. Maximum quality.
• GTA V. DirectX 11. City. Maximum quality, FXAA + 2x MSAA, advanced quality settings – on, 16x AF, image resolution scale – off.
• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. DirectX 11. Training mode. Ultra mode.
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider. DirectX 12. Secret city. Maximum quality, DXR – off, TAA.
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. DirectX 11. Built-in benchmark. “Highest” mode.
• Battlefield V. DirectX 12. The Last Tiger Mission. Ultra mode, TAA, DXR – off.
• Red Dead Redemption 2. Vulkan. Built-in benchmark. Maximum quality (advanced settings – off), TAA.
• Gears 5. DirectX 12. Built-in benchmark. Ultra mode.
• Metro: Exodus. DirectX 12. Built-in benchmark. Ultra mode.
• Horizon Zero Dawn. DirectX 12. Meridian. Top quality, TAA. Death Stranding. DirectX 12. Prologue. Maximum quality.
• A Total War Saga: TROY. DirectX 11. Built-in benchmark. Max mode, 4x AA (Ultra HD – no AA).
• DOOM Eternal. Vulkan. Beginning of the game. Ultra mode.
• Mafia: Definitive Edition. DirectX 11. Walking mode. Maximum quality.
• Watch Dogs: Legion. DirectX 12. City trip. Maximum quality, TAA, DXR – off.
• Cyberpunk 2077 1.1. DirectX 12. City trip. The quality mode is “Impressive”, the quality of the shadows is incredible, DXR is off.

Game performance was measured using the well known CapFrameX program. It allows you to get the render time of each frame. The use of the 99th percentile instead of the minimum number of frames per second is due to the desire to cleanse the results of random performance spikes that were provoked by reasons not directly related to the operation of the main components of the platform.

⇡ # Test results

⇡ # Clock frequencies, power consumption, temperature, noise level and overclocking

PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT fans start spinning when the GPU heats up to 50 degrees Celsius, but you can adjust this parameter yourself in the video card driver. Some suspicious users, for example, can completely disable the semi-passive mode of the accelerator.

Summary of the operation and configuration of PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT
Stand	Open
Video card operating mode	Silent (Silent mode)	Nominal (OC Mode)	Rage Mode	Overclocking
Declared GPU frequency (Boost) and memory speed	2250 MHz, 16 Gbps	2340 MHz, 16 Gbps	2340 MHz, 16 Gbps	2650 MHz, 17.2 Gbps
Real GPU frequency in The Witcher III: minimum, maximum, average	2195 MHz	2266 MHz	2371 MHz	2561 MHz
	2328 MHz	2401 MHz	2424 MHz	2574 MHz
	2225 MHz	2308 MHz	2380 MHz	2570 MHz
Maximum noise level	37.4 dBA	39 dBA	39 dBA	40.2 dBA
Stand power consumption: average, maximum	369 Wt	401 Wt	401 Wt	429 Wt
	372 Wt	404 Wt	409 Wt	451 Wt
GPU Voltage: Average, Maximum	1.058V	1.114V	1.150V	1.149V
	1.150V	1.150V	1.150V	1.150V
Maximum GPU Temperature	76 ° C	72 ° C	73 ° C	72 ° C
Work of the cooler of the video card in passive mode
Mode status	Provided
GPU temperature in 2D (open stand, idle 20 minutes)	48 ° C
Fans start rotating at GPU temperature	50 ° C
Maximum speed of fan (s)
Frequency	3100 rpm
Noise level	63.1 dBA
Maximum GPU Temperature	51 ° C
Performance, points
Test results in 3DMark Time Spy (Graphics Score)	16792	17261	17515	18560
Test results in 3DMark Fire Strike (Graphics Score)	50311	51695	52052	55348
Test results in Unigine Superposition (1080p Extreme)	9977	10209	10300	11004
Decrease / increase in performance in benchmarks	-3%, -3%, -2%	0%	1%, 1%, 1%	8%, 7%, 8%

As I said, the hero of the review has a pretty good factory overclocking – in fact, the chip’s frequency is kept above 2300 MHz most of the time. I will not name the noisy PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT – and this fact applies to both modes of the device.

The cooler of the “Red Devil” copes with its task perfectly: the graphics processor heats up to a maximum of 72 degrees Celsius; the memory is cold, and the heating of the hottest point reaches only 92 degrees Celsius with an allowable value of 110 ° C. By all indications, we are dealing with a perfectly designed graphics card: quiet and cold.

Please note that the Silent mode did not significantly affect the performance of the test bench – it became slower in benchmarks by only 2-3%. In a well-ventilated case, you shouldn’t be afraid of overheating PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT using Silent mode. It is also interesting that the inclusion of the Rage mode turned out to be, in fact, useless – the card is already set at the factory for maximum performance without a sharp increase in noise and heating.

Cooler PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT is able to work much more efficiently. If you spin the CO fans to the maximum (~ 3100 rpm), then the GPU will heat up to a maximum of 51 degrees Celsius. It turns out that it is quite possible to drop more than 20 degrees!

The “Red Devil” showed itself very well in acceleration. I managed to increase the GPU frequency from 2340 to 2650 MHz – the real chip frequency averaged 2570 MHz. This required increasing the capacity limit by 15%. The memory was overclocked from 16 to 17.2 Gbps – this is the standard value and it is limited by the video card driver.

GPU overclocking by 11% is, on average, overshadowed by the fact that the video card began to work noticeably louder (40+ dBA is already clearly audible, although the temperatures of the PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT did not rise) – this is firstly. Secondly, this overclocking has a “corn flavor”, as benchmark performance has increased by only 7-8%. In games, the increase in frame rate in most cases will be even less, since other factors, such as processor dependence, also affect system performance.

And yet, against the background of competitors PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT showed itself the best. On the Internet, you can find more impressive results of the “Red Devil” – those in which the chip frequency rises to 2700 MHz and does not fall below 2600 MHz. Here it will not be a sin to remind one common truth: overclocking of hardware is always a lottery. Hope you get lucky.

⇡ # Performance in games

When we compare different models of video cards belonging to the same series, then, studying their level of performance, we know in advance that no miracle will happen here. So PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT turned out to be slower than its SAPPHIRE counterpart by only 1% in the most non-processor-dependent resolution. So when choosing a video card, I urge you to look at the frequencies declared in the characteristics of the device as the last thing.

In general, we see that the Radeon RX 6800 XT successfully competes with the GeForce RTX 3080 in games without enabling ray tracing. Interestingly, the inclusion of SAM technology makes the video card less processor-dependent – in some games the minimum FPS increases noticeably. However, already in Ultra HD resolution, NVIDIA’s flagship is slightly ahead. If you are reading our reviews of video cards, then such results will not be a revelation.

We can safely state that in Full HD and WQHD resolutions any Radeon RX 6800 XT feels just great. But in Ultra HD in a number of projects, alas, you will have to reduce the picture quality.

Test results, Full HD, FPS (more is better)
	GeForce RTX 3080 (1740 MHz, 19 Gbps)		Radeon RX 6800 XT (2360 MHz, 16 Gbps)		PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT (2340 MHz, 16 Gbps)
	AVG	1% MIN	AVG	1% MIN	AVG	1% MIN
World of Tanks	394	263	385	248	383	248
CS: GO	609	166	555	160	560	170
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds	281	190	290	195	290	200
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt	192	133	166	133	160	130
Gta v	124	90	108	77	108	77
Red dead redemption 2	120	97	130	97	130	97
Assassin’s creed odyssey	105	75	93	68	92	68
Gears 5	164	103	180	131	180	136
Horizon zero dawn	186	110	204	127	204	127
Death stranding	216	177	215	175	214	174
Battlefield v	196	132	197	135	197	135
Shadow of the tomb raider	184	153	193	168	193	168
Watch Dogs: Legion	109	87	115	90	117	91
A Total War Saga: TROY	142	108	140	110	139	110
Metro: Exodus	126	62	124	67	123	66
Cyberpunk 2077	86	69	92	70	92	70
DOOM Eternal	420	320	427	334	430	330

Test results, WQHD, FPS (more is better)
	GeForce RTX 3080 (1740 MHz, 19 Gbps)		Radeon RX 6800 XT (2360 MHz, 16 Gbps)		PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT (2340 MHz, 16 Gbps)
	AVG	1% MIN	AVG	1% MIN	AVG	1% MIN
World of Tanks	266	178	247	162	248	160
CS: GO	500	115	512	112	516	118
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds	249	181	213	156	204	152
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt	154	105	151	127	148	125
GTA V	122	87	108	76	108	77
Red Dead Redemption 2	98	79	106	83	106	82
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey	90	68	93	68	92	67
Gears 5	137	100	150	122	149	121
Horizon Zero Dawn	160	112	170	119	170	120
Death Stranding	168	140	169	137	169	138
Battlefield v	165	125	185	133	184	132
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	144	113	152	120	150	120
Watch Dogs: Legion	87	73	87	71	87	70
A Total War Saga: TROY	103	79	98	72	97	71
Metro: Exodus	103	58	101	58	100	57
Cyberpunk 2077	57	47	58	46	58	46
DOOM Eternal	325	250	310	253	311	250

Результаты тестирования, Ultra HD, FPS (больше — лучше)
	GeForce RTX 3080 (1740 МГц, 19 Гбит/с)		Radeon RX 6800 XT (2360 МГц, 16 Гбит/с)		PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT (2340 МГц, 16 Гбит/с)
	AVG	1% MIN	AVG	1% MIN	AVG	1% MIN
World of Tanks	135	93	124	80	121	77
CS: GO	349	72	415	75	420	81
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds	140	112	114	93	110	91
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt	90	72	84	72	83	71
GTA V	109	77	98	73	97	73
Red Dead Redemption 2	67	56	66	53	65	53
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey	65	55	64	52	65	52
Gears 5	81	65	83	69	82	68
Horizon Zero Dawn	101	80	95	78	94	77
Death Stranding	100	86	100	83	99	81
Battlefield v	97	78	100	80	99	80
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	81	67	79	66	77	65
Watch Dogs: Legion	54	45	50	43	50	43
A Total War Saga: TROY	89	74	90	74	90	73
Metro: Exodus	67	45	65	42	64	42
Cyberpunk 2077	28	24	26	22	26	22
DOOM Eternal	180	130	166	130	165	130

⇡#findings

Пожалуй, делать в обзоре PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT Limited Edition какой-либо большой и развернутый вывод я не буду. Во-первых, с быстродействием любой Radeon RX 6800 XT все уже ясно: это достойный конкурент GeForce RTX 3080 — видеокарты обладают схожим уровнем быстродействия в играх без использования трассировки лучей. Во втором случае «красный» ускоритель начинает заметно отставать, но здесь устройство предлагает другие «плюшки», о которых мы рассказывали не раз.

Во-вторых, «Красный дьявол» от PowerColor на деле оказался просто отличнейшим нереференсом: тихим, холодным, с хорошим заводским разгоном, а также возможностью самостоятельно выжать еще 7-8 % в играх и бенчмарках. Все, теперь вы знаете все самое важное про PowerColor Red Devil Radeon RX 6800 XT Limited Edition — да и про обычную версию тоже.